Main Street, Siberia: The Surprising Human Capital on the Pacific End of Russia

by Dale M. Heckman

Release Date: December, 1999

Edition: Paperback

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Siberia: Cities not a Vast Frontier

I enjoyed this book very much. It presents a very different pictue of Siberia than I received from the general press. My old impression was of a frontier society living in a vast northern wilderness. I was surprised to learn that 75% of the population lives in large cities. The author nails down, with firsthand observations from his prolonged stays there, that major cities of Pacific Russia have become quite livable, and many -- perhaps most -- people born in Siberia and locally educated do not hanker to move to western Russia unless financial distress finally forces them to leave. That marks a significant change in the last 2 or 3 decades which even Muscovites might not accept, much as a native New Yorker might still assume that people from Denver would really prefer "deep down" to live in New York. This urban surprise simply sets the stage for the author's report on his firsthand research on higher education -- and its products -- in Pacific Russia, a term which he invents and defines. Through the pivotal decade 1986 - 1996 this author spent months in seven cities of Pacific Russia, interviewing repeatedly at two dozen universities and other instutions of higher education, noting great changes occuring in them during this perion. Throughout one winter term he taught regular classes in two universities, thus observing, like an anthropoligst, "from inside." The key fact today is the central government's financial neglect of its universities and colleges "farthest out" but the second startling fact the author points out is that they survive, and their numbers even increase! Heckman, who spent a previous career researching and writing about California's higher education system for state government, continues his present inquiry as an independent scholar. His style is engaging and pleasant even though the content is jammed full of information. He conducts interviews in Russian, and provides a helpful glossary of technical higher education terms in Russian and English. The book also has a list of over 60 institutions of higher education in Pacific Russia, which extends from the Irkutsk / Lake Baikal region eastward to the Pacific. The concluding chapter about graduates of these institutions tries too hard, I think, to show that they're O.K. and ready for American entreprenueurs to hire. Several major corporations from North America alrady have offices on the Pacific end of Russia, and experience with Russian partners or on-site managers. In fact he draws from their experiences. Those companies, at least, know by now that they are not dealing with bumpkins. Yet the intercultural observations in the chapter may provide important tips to American companies newly venturing into this little-known corner of the Pacific rim. This short book provides a whole new perspective on the people -- not merely the spaces -- of Russia closest to America.